Malta has decided to make use of its option to postpone the total liberalisation of its postal services market by a further two years.
Although according to new EU rules member states have to open their postal services to full competition as from the beginning of 2011, Malta last month notified the Commission that it intends to postpone liberalisation in this sector until January 1, 2013.
A spokesman for the Commission yesterday told The Times Business that Malta was one of the countries which availed itself of a two-year delay possibility agreed by member states last year.
"We can confirm that last month the Commission received from the Maltese authorities a notification in line with Directive 2008/6/EC stating that Malta intends to postpone by two years the complete opening of its postal market from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2013."
The spokesman said that member states who wanted to make use of this possibility had until last August 27 to notify the Commission of their intention. A total of 11 states had done so.
Apart from Malta, the member states choosing this option are Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
Sources close to the government said this decision has been taken in order to give more "breathing space" to the island's postal market to settle down following last year's privatisation of Maltapost.
"We considered that it would be more adequate to leave our options open and allow the possibility of having additional time for the market to stabilise," the sources explained.
Last year the government sold a further 25 per cent stake at Maltapost to Red Box, a fully owned subsidiary of Lombard Bank which became the majority shareholder of the company. The government had also announced its intention to float the remaining shares of the company on the Malta Stock Exchange, however this has not yet been done.
Currently, national postal operators such as Maltapost still enjoy a monopoly on mail below a maximum of 50g, known as the "reserved area". However, this will be discontinued with the new EU directive (2008/6/EC). At the same time, EU rules oblige member states to provide a basic service known as the "universal" service which comprises at least one delivery and collection, five days a week, for every EU citizen.
Thus, despite opening up the sector to competition, with private companies having the possibility of competing with Maltapost in the delivery of letters, the government will still be able to subsidise parts of the service in cases of remote and "non-commercial" areas.
The postal services in Malta are currently regulated by the Malta Communications Authority.
Although according to new EU rules member states have to open their postal services to full competition as from the beginning of 2011, Malta last month notified the Commission that it intends to postpone liberalisation in this sector until January 1, 2013.
A spokesman for the Commission yesterday told The Times Business that Malta was one of the countries which availed itself of a two-year delay possibility agreed by member states last year.
"We can confirm that last month the Commission received from the Maltese authorities a notification in line with Directive 2008/6/EC stating that Malta intends to postpone by two years the complete opening of its postal market from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2013."
The spokesman said that member states who wanted to make use of this possibility had until last August 27 to notify the Commission of their intention. A total of 11 states had done so.
Apart from Malta, the member states choosing this option are Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
Sources close to the government said this decision has been taken in order to give more "breathing space" to the island's postal market to settle down following last year's privatisation of Maltapost.
"We considered that it would be more adequate to leave our options open and allow the possibility of having additional time for the market to stabilise," the sources explained.
Last year the government sold a further 25 per cent stake at Maltapost to Red Box, a fully owned subsidiary of Lombard Bank which became the majority shareholder of the company. The government had also announced its intention to float the remaining shares of the company on the Malta Stock Exchange, however this has not yet been done.
Currently, national postal operators such as Maltapost still enjoy a monopoly on mail below a maximum of 50g, known as the "reserved area". However, this will be discontinued with the new EU directive (2008/6/EC). At the same time, EU rules oblige member states to provide a basic service known as the "universal" service which comprises at least one delivery and collection, five days a week, for every EU citizen.
Thus, despite opening up the sector to competition, with private companies having the possibility of competing with Maltapost in the delivery of letters, the government will still be able to subsidise parts of the service in cases of remote and "non-commercial" areas.
The postal services in Malta are currently regulated by the Malta Communications Authority.